


It Will Get Better

by Annie_Kabrasi



Category: Haikyuu!!
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-09-21
Updated: 2015-09-23
Packaged: 2018-04-22 18:09:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 7,630
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4845305
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Annie_Kabrasi/pseuds/Annie_Kabrasi
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>My fics for Tsukibros week. :)</p><p>Amateur writer here, and English is not my first language, so sorry for any mistakes, and inaccuracies. I also don't really know Japanese culture that much, so sorry if I'm not proper writing those parts either.</p><p>I'm practically unable to do angst with these two because they suffer enough in canon :D But you can expect some serious fics from me later on the week. :)</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Something Missing

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hello, everyone! :)
> 
>  
> 
> Tsukibros week has arrived, and here I am with a rather silly story for Day 1.
> 
>  
> 
> Summary: Tsukki's music player on his phone stops working! *gasp* What will he do without music in his life (for, like 24 hours)? And what does Akiteru have to do with this?
> 
>  
> 
> Akiteru is 22, Kei is 16 in this story :)

 

 

 

 

**Tsukibros Week Day 1**

 

**Something Missing**

 

 

 ******  
**

It was Thursday morning, and Kei was walking down the street as usual, to meet up with Yamaguchi at the corner. He chose calm tunes to listen to for now, as getting ready in the morning was pretty hectic, he needed some peace of mind before school. Akiteru was coming to visit this weekend, arriving Friday afternoon, and their mom went out of her way to make sure everything was perfect and ready for his eldest son, including cleaning every single corner in the house. So Kei was basically kicked out of his room, and his reasoning that his room was perfectly fine as it is, and there was little possibility of Akiteru entering it anyway, was completely ignored.

 ******  
**

Kei arrived early at their meeting point, so, while waiting for his friend to arrive, he listened to the music, lowering his eyelids when he took in the nice atmosphere of the autumn morning. The air was a little chilling, but the sun was shining brightly, without any clouds to block its heat. Kei hated waiting, but time always passed faster if there was something to listen to. Suddenly, the music stopped playing. Kei frowned and fished out his mobile phone from his pocket to check the connection.

There seemed to be no problem with his earphones, so he pulled out the jack from the mobile, and pressed play, expecting to hear the music from his phone's speakers. It seemed something was wrong, as there was no sound coming from it, even when the screen had clearly shown the track being played. Kei clicked his tongue in annoyance when, as expected, numerous presses on the touchscreen didn't solve the problem. Thankfully, Yamaguchi arrived just then, so he didn't have to wait any longer.

"Good morning, Tsukki!" called his friend merrily from several steps ahead.

"Good morning." muttered Kei, and they started on the way to school.

 ******  
**

Kei's mind went back to the problem from time to time during the day, but as always, he needed to pay attention in class and in breaks, Yama seemed determined to tell him every single detail of his new cat's wrongdoings.

 ******  
**

"This morning, we discovered him scratching the leg of the sofa! Mom was furious. She told me to lock him in the garage. But I couldn't do that to him, he doesn't know he's doing something wrong! That's just way too cruel for a punishment. I was almost late because of that."

While speaking, Tadashi's whole face was lit up like a happy Jack O' lantern. It seemed the grin wouldn't leave his face all day. Kei was glad to see his friend happy.

 ******  
**

Fortunately, the way to his house wasn't long, but he still missed his music. The loud noise of traffic was almost unfamiliar and uncomfortable, so Kei picked up his pace to reach his house as soon as possible.

Kei usually listened to music while doing homework, so even if it was excruciatingly long or boring, it was easier to get it done. Thankfully, he could use the computer to play music for that, so it wasn't as bad than what it could have been if there was some problem with the earphones. Kei made a mental note to buy an extra earphone, so he would have one in case of emergency.

 ******  
**

The next day was even worse in regards of no music. Kei didn't even realize how much he spent listening to music on an average day. His earphones were on and chiming while walking to school, getting home, sometimes in school breaks... and almost every single time Yamaguchi wasn't around. At home, he only took it off for meals, bath and sleeping, he even read with some music on.

 ******  
**

Kei's ears were now exposed to the strange dichotomy of quiet and noise. Everything became a little more dull, but at the same time, a little more annoying. Yamaguchi asked him what was wrong, but after explaining the situation, and having his friend inspecting the phone meant nothing, it didn't get back to behaving properly.

 ******  
**

The day passed slowly, but the classes eventually draw to a close, and there was only volleyball practice to get through at the end of the day. Yamaguchi, as usual, used the little time before club activities to get himself a candy bar to prepare for the - often energy-consuming - practice. Kei generally used the time to prepare for practice too: by listening to the most intensive, loudest rock soundtrack he could find on his mobile. The beneficial effect was that the other's antics were a little bit more tolerable after listening to a singer shouting, well, at least melodiously, opposed to some people . Unfortunately, he had to pass up on that now, as his phone decided to be cruel and just wouldn't play anything from his tracklist. He discovered yesterday that even ringtones and the sounds of buttons weren't working. It was really annoying. Walking over to the locker room, he swiped the screen, and got to the radio. He sometimes switched from listening to his own collected favorites to listening to the radio instead, searching for new, cool songs. Remixes of popular songs were interesting, well, given if they weren't butchered. Sometimes Kei really thought he could do a better job in remixing than some people who called themselves 'artists'.

 ******  
**

He was surprised when once he vigorously tried to get some sound out of his phone, the radio actually came to life. This was even weirder than yesterday. Why is only the radio working? He scrolled through stations until he found something to his taste, and listened to it on maximum volume before going to change into gym clothes.

 ******  
**

He survived practice (thankfully Hinata seemed a little under the weather, so there was no need for the further protection of his eardrums), showered and after saying goodbye to Yamaguchi, he headed home.

As there was nothing better to do, he listened to the radio, although he cringed at some lyrics and changed stations when some unbelievably bad tune started to play.

 ******  
**

"I'm home." He let out a sigh, dropped his bag and took off his shoes to put on slippers and poked his head inside the kitchen.

His mom was sitting at the kitchen table. She smiled at him.

"Welcome home Kei!"

 ******  
**

In less than a second she was already up and moving around the kitchen. "Come and sit, are you hungry?" Knowing his mother, his was a rhetorical question, so he plopped down on his chair, stretching his legs underneath.

"Aki-chan has already arrived."

 ******  
**

Kei's stomach twitched. He hated that he reacted this way if there was a chance of meeting Nii-chan. Their relationship was in a really strange state, interlacing weak attempts to interact with each other more naturally, with the inexplicable urge to keep up the barrier which was created between them years ago. It was hard, talking to Nii-chan. There was almost always a kind of awkward feeling in the air when they were speaking and Kei hated that, and also that he couldn't control this feeling. He hated that he found his room more safe and comfortable than the living room and kitchen when Akiteru was home.

Kei was lost in his thoughts while eating, and his mother knew it was futile to talk with him when he was like this, so she asked him only when he stood up to bring his bag to his room:

"Kei what's with your phone? Is it still not working?"

"Yeah." Kei sighed, already guessing what will be his mother's next sentence.

"Well, the best thing would be to show it to Akiteru."

 ******  
**

It was common knowledge in their family that Akiteru had a magical presence, in a sense that if he stepped in a room where a dysfunctional piece of electronic device was, it marvelously got fixed. There were, as far as Kei knew, no exceptions from this. Nii-chan was good with computers, phones, and really anything electronic anyway, when he was still a high-schooler, a lot of his friends asked for help- and the family members of his friends. And the neighbors. And some teachers.

 ******  
**

"I guess you will only have to put it in the same room as him, and BAM! Better than new." his mother grinned.

"Where is he?" Kei asked, with a little smile.

"He's in his room, I think he mentioned a book or something he wanted to get from there."

Kei grabbed his bag and climbed up the stairs, walking past Nii-chan's closed door, and dropped his bag in his room before going back. He stood before his big brother's room a little longer than it was necessary, but he braced himself and knocked.

"Come in!"

Kei opened the door to find his brother sitting on the floor among dozens of old volleyball magazines.

He felt like he saw something like this before, and when he realized what exactly is he remembering, he got a knot in his throat. It reminded him of five years ago, Akiteru on his knees in his room, the door slightly ajar, and Kei could see parts of volleyball posters and different personal objects of Nii-chan lying out of place, on the floor. He felt the same dreadful feeling creeping up his back, but then Nii-chan glanced up. He seemed surprised to find Kei in the doorway, but soon smiled at him warmly.

 ******  
**

"Oh, Kei, come on in!"

Kei realized that this wasn't even close to the situation five years back. Akiteru seemed to search through his old volleyball magazines in complete peace. Kei felt himself calm down, and the bad feeling almost entirely disappeared.

 ******  
**

He closed the door behind him and pulled his mobile out of his pocket.

 ******  
**

It was silly, but he did it anyway: He pushed play on the music player to see if Akiteru's presence still worked the same way it did a couple of years ago. No sound got out of his mobile, and he was surprised at his own foolishness that he felt a little bit of disappointment. Well, very first exception then.

 ******  
**

Akiteru seemed immersed in the volleyball magazines around him, but he still turned towards Kei to wonder what does his little brother want.

 ******  
**

Kei deemed it better to address the situation on the floor before asking for Nii-chan's help.

"Oh this?" Akiteru furrowed his brow, looking around like he just noticed the mess around him. He tried to gather the scattered magazines to a couple of sloppy piles absent-minded, patting the floor indicating for Kei to sit. "I'm trying to find that old magazine which mentioned Ivan Miljković. Akaizawa doesn't believe me that he won the World League Best Scorer Award four times before 2008. I told him I remember this clearly, but he insists that it was five times. We don't count European championships and Best Spiker Awards! Maybe he confused them..." he mumbled the last words.

 ******  
**

Kei sat down, not really caring if he sat on some magazines.

 ******  
**

"It will be on the last page in one of these, that's where foreign volleyball players were always mentioned. Anyway, you wanted something?"

 ******  
**

"There's something wrong with my phone's audio. Can you check it out?"

 ******  
**

Akiteru put down the magazine he was currently holding, and took the phone from Kei wordlessly. He tried everything himself Kei already tried, then looked up and tilted his head to the left.

 ******  
**

"Have you tried turning it off and on again?" Nii-chan asked.

 ******  
**

Kei really, really – wanted to facepalm himself. He took the phone back and pressed restart. After entering the code, drawing his pattern, and pressing play on the music player, Spyair* was playing from his phone happily, without any problem in the world.

Akiteru tried to conceal his grinning, but failed.

"What's so funny?" Kei asked, but even he could see how stupid he was to not think of the most basic thing one should do if something is not working on their phone.

 ******  
**

"Nothing, just," Akiteru huffed a little laugh. "I imagined your face when you realized you need to go without music for a while." Kei wanted to sulk a little, but couldn't as seeing Nii-chan's apparent mirth was rubbing off on him. It dawned on him only then, how long it was since he saw Nii-chan laugh. "Kei, you are unfazed by almost everything, but nobody should stand between you and your music. What a catastrophe!" Nii-chan was holding his stomach now, and what he said didn't really make sense, but just like when he stepped in the room, the initial bad feeling transformed into a peaceful feeling he remembered from back when he was a little kid. He nudged Akiteru lightly on the shoulder, but couldn't keep a little smile off of his face.

 ******  
**

"Sorry, sorry." Nii-chan gathered himself and smiled at Kei. "The important thing is that it's working. Great song by the way."

Kei could sense that Akiteru was in a good mood, and it stuck on him too. Kei wondered if something particularly good thing happened to Nii-chan, or he was just joyful without no real reason.

 ******  
**

"Ooo-kaay." Said Nii-chan, and rolled up the sleeves of his shirt. "Back to business."

"I can help." Kei blurted out without thinking.

His brother glanced up at him, with wide eyes.

"Really? Don't you have anything to do? Homework?"

Kei shook his head with a sad feeling in his stomach. He realized Akiteru was giving him a way out of spending time with him. Because that was the norm with them now. But he decided that this is a good time as any other to set up a different norm.

"No, I can stay."

Hearing that, a big smile spread on Nii-chan's face. "Great! That pile's yours."

 ******  
**

Spending time with Nii-chan again after so much time apart was weird at first, but Kei didn't even notice and the situation became much more comfortable. The conversation sometimes flew, sometimes stopped, but it was never really awkward. The music played from Kei's phone merrily, and he skipped sad or slow songs without a word.

Akiteru was humming along with some of them, and Kei realized that part of his music was from Akiteru, back when his big brother showed him some bands.

Kei couldn't deny it though. Sometimes it hurt when Akiteru talked about things which happened to him half a year ago and Kei didn't know about them. It was probably his fault for keeping distance from Nii-chan and not asking how he was, but now, he was determined to change and be an active part of them getting close to each other again.

 ******  
**

And when Akiteru waved the magazine in question with a victorious grin, Kei smiled back at him, and thought they had a good start. A very good start indeed.

 ******  
**

 

 

* I just had to :D

 ******  
**

The end

 ******  
**

 

 

by Annie Kabrasi

 ******  
**

 

21 september 2015

******  
**


	2. The Little Things

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tsukibros week Day 2! Yaaay!
> 
> I have to say I have never thought I'll write this much about this day, but the story just got longer and longer, so I might have been really tired when I wrote the end and rushed a bit there, so, sorry for that. But I had so much fun writing this, I hope you'll like it as well :)
> 
> Akiteru and Kei has to take care of a little girl! O.O How will they manage it?
> 
> Akiteru is 16, Kei is 10 in this story.
> 
> Also, sorry for any inaccuracies concerning babies (I don't even know if a one-year-old is considered a baby or a toddler or something else) and terms and appropriate behaviour and toys and stuff of 1-year-olds, etc. I really didn't research that XD So sorry if that was inaccurate.  
> I didn’t address the diaper problem :D haha, that would have been too long, although I can think of some nice reactions from Kei and Akiteru XD
> 
> I'm an amateur writer and my first language is not English. I also don't really know Japanese culture that much, so sorry if I'm not proper writing those parts either. (Especially with the names)  
> Please be gentle with me. :P Or don't :P Constructive criticism is much appreciated.

 

 

 

 

 

**Tsukibros Week Day 2**

 

 

**The Little Things**

 

 

 

 

 

 

Kei was waiting in his room patiently, like always when Nii-chan had afternoon practice. He knew that in any moment, Nii-chan will arrive home and that's when Kei will ask him to play Dinosaur King* with him. Nii-chan will say yes and it will be the greatest fun ever!

 

Kei went to the game store with Mother to buy the game and was now clutching it in his hands, the plastic wrapper still intact. He will wait until Nii-chan is here so they can open it together. It was Friday afternoon, so Nii-chan will surely have time to play.

 

Kei felt a little bit guilty for going to buy it without Nii-chan, but he was sure Nii-chan will understand.

 

They waited forever for the release of the game, and both Kei and Nii-chan saved their pocket money to buy the game together.

 

Kei hoped volleyball practice wasn't too hard on Nii-chan that he was too tired for playing. It happened sometimes in the past. Akiteru-niichan did everything he could to be the best player on the team, so Kei understood that sometimes he was simply too tired to play with him.

 

But this was Dinosaur King! And Nii-chan promised, and what Nii-chan promises, he keeps.

 

Kei heard the front door creak open and he rushed down the stairs just to see Nii-chan kicking off his shoes and dropping his bag on the floor.

 

"Welcome home!" exclaimed Kei.

 

"I'm home." smiled Akiteru, just before their mother peaked out from the kitchen.

 

"Aki-chan, welcome home!"

Kei skipped the last few steps and arrived sliding in front of the kitchen.

 

"Aren't you energetic?" chuckled Nii-chan and pulled his ear.

"Ow! Nii-chan!"

Akiteru just grinned, then his eyes found the little package Kei was holding.

 

"What did you get your hands on?"

 

Kei was almost buzzing with excitement to tell the news.

 

"Mother and I went to buy Dinosaur King!"

 

"Hmm? Really?" he smiled.

 

"I'm sorry for going without you, but I thought it was better to just start playing it as soon as you get home."

 

Nii-chan laughed and caressed his head.

 

"Don't worry ’bout it. Actually, good thinking, Kei!"

 

"Aki-chan, are you hungry?" their mother called from the kitchen. "There's still lunch left in the fridge."

 

"No, thanks Mom, I have already eaten with the guys after practice."

 

"Okay, then I'm off to shower, your Dad will be here for me in half an hour."

 

Their parents were going to their usual monthly night together, this time to the cinema. As Akiteru was reliable, and was already 16 years old, there was no need for someone to look after them.

 

When Mother went upstairs to the bathroom, Kei turned towards his big brother.

 

"Nii-chan can we play with the game now?"

 

Akiteru-niichan had a strange expression on his face, but then he glanced down at Kei, smiling warmly.

 

"Of course. Leave me a little time, I'll put my clothes in the laundry, then I'll come down. Turn on the PC, okay, Kei?"

 

He nodded and went to the computer in the living room.

 

By the time they were both sitting in front of it, Father arrived. He only put his briefcase down and greeted them, when Mother came down.

 

She was dressed in a really nice long dress and there was a pretty hair-clip in her hair.

 

"Mom, you look fantastic!" smiled Akiteru.

 

"It's not nice to compliment her before me, son!" grinned their father. "You look absolutely amazing, dear."

 

Kei didn't want to miss out on the competition. "Mom is the most beautiful woman in the world!"

 

"Stop it!" Mother giggled, but her cheeks became visibly pink. She took her purse from under the window.

 

"Okay, boys, we are out! Take care, food's in the fridge, call us if anything's up, okay?"

 

After everyone saying their goodbyes, Akiteru and Kei settled in the two chairs before the PC. Akiteru let Kei have the swivel chair as the younger one liked it better than the other one.

 

"So, what do you say, should we open it? Shouldn't we wait until the stars align or anything?"

 

"No!" protested Kei.

 

Nii-chan put his hand under his chin in a mock-thinking posture.

 

"Hmm, I don't know. I heard this is not a proper day for playing anything which has anything to do with dinosaurs..."

 

"You are just joking Nii-chan!"

 

"No, I'm not!" Akiteru turned towards him indignantly, but his eyes glinting and the slight upturn of his lips gave him away.

 

"Nii-chan!"

 

"Okay, okay!" Akiteru laughed and held out the game between them.

 

"Shall we then, dear brother?"

 

Kei grinned and they grabbed the two sides of plastic wrapper and tore it solemnly.

 

A couple of minutes later, Nii-chan was busy clicking away, while humming "Let's install this."

 

Kei watched as the loading sign appeared on the screen, then asked his brother.

"How was practice?"

 

Nii-chan looked at him from the corner of his eye, and a small smile appeared on his face.

 

"Nothing special. It was really tiring though. I'm glad I'm home now." The smile became bigger on his brother's face as he turned towards Kei.

 

"And how was your day? Anything interesting?"

 

Kei shook his head.

 

"Well, we met with the neighbours in the store, they seemed a little nervous."

 

"You mean the Nomuras?"

 

"Yes." Kei shrugged as this held no importance to him, he just wanted to share something of his day with Nii-chan.

 

"Hmmm. I don't really know them, we rarely meet. I hope it's nothing serious." Akiteru's face suddenly lit up. "Have you seen their little girl though? Aw, she's so cute! She's not really talkative, haha, she reminds me of you Kei."

 

Kei's eyes widened. "W-what?"

 

"Haha, you were so cute and tiny and close-mouthed too!"

 

"No I wasn't!"

 

"How would you know?"

 

"I remember!"

 

"Oh, really? Better than me? I doubt it!" Akiteru just giggled when Kei tried to climb on him and push him off the chair  as a punishment. He would have succeeded if Akiteru hadn’t stopped him, drawing his attention to the computer screen.

 

Meanwhile, the installation was finished. The game was finally ready to be played. They were in the middle of figuring out the controls, when the doorbell rang.

 

"Who could that be?" frowned Akiteru. "I'll check it out."

 

The older brother opened the front door and immediately needed to blink. It seemed like he just took an eyeful of an almost entirely pink room.

 

"I'm sorry for bothering!" He heard a woman's voice from the middle of pink. He blinked a couple more and as his sight cleared, he could now differentiate the shape of a woman, holding a large bunch of roses, pink, a couple of children's toys, pink, and a little girl, in pink. Oh. Their neighbours.

 

Before he could say something, the little girl, along with the toys and the roses, were shoved in his arms.

 

"Oh, sorry!" The woman (now that Akiteru recognized her, Nomura-san) retrieved the flowers and took a deep breath.

 

"I'm sorry to bother you Akiteru-chan, is Tsukishima-san here?" Nomura-san peaked behind Akiteru for a moment, then turned towards him again. "The thing is, I'm late from a business dinner and our babysitter called us not long ago that he's gotten ill. I was trying to find a replacement, but it's such a short notice I couldn't... I saw that the lights are on, so I came to ask for Tsukishima-san's help..."

 

"Oh, I'm sorry." Akiteru-san stopped speaking for a moment because the little girl started wriggling in his hold. "Mom and Dad aren't here, they went to the cinema."

 

"Oh dear. Oh that's bad." Nomura-san bit her lip. Her eyes found his and he knew what she wanted to say before she even opened her mouth.

 

"Akiteru-chan, maybe... could you maybe look after Mako-chan for a little while? It won't be over two hours... I just really need to go to this business meeting and I know you are such a good boy!"

 

Akiteru looked away, contemplating.

 

"Yeah, well..."

 

"And Mako-chan is a good girl, there will be no problem with her! See? She already likes you."

 

Sure, if clinging to someone's neck like a little monkey meant liking someone in Mako-chan's dictionary, there was a big chance of her liking Akiteru.

 

"Kei-chan could help too."

 

Akiteru sensed some movement behind him, but he couldn't risk turning around, afraid that he would drop some toys. Or Mako-chan.

 

"Good evening, Nomura-san!" Kei arrived at the door and bowed politely.

"Kei-chan, hi!" Nomura-san smiled at him. She glanced at her watch and the information seemed to make her even more desperate.

 

"Please Akiteru-chan! There really will be no problem with her, she just ate and she's fine with only a little attention."

 

Akiteru nodded, and adjusted his hands to better hold Mako-chan.

 

"Of course, Nomura-san, you can count on us."

 

"Thank you so much Akiteru-chan!" Nomura-san seemed like she would like to hug Nii-chan, but instead she opted for hugging her daughter.

 

"Mako, this is Aki-chan, all right?" She looked at Akiteru a little apologetically. "I'm sorry, she is better with shorter names... And this is Kei-chan." she waved towards the younger brother. Akiteru saw from the corner of his eye that Kei almost made a face hearing that. "You will stay with them for a bit, okay? I'll come back soon." She kissed the little girl on her cheek, and pulled a business card out of her pocket, holding it out for Kei.

"Here's my number. Call me if there's anything up."

 

She was almost out of the house, but she stopped, turned around and also pushed the bunch of roses in Kei's hand. "This is as a thanks for Tsukishima-san for the hospitality. And you'll get something from me for babysitting too. I'm counting on you, boys! Bye!"

 

It was as Nomura-san was a tornado (a nice smelling tornado), which dropped a little girl on their doorstep.

 

"Kei, can you help me? I'm afraid I'll drop something, and I would prefer not to, especially Mako-chan here."

 

"Makochan." chirped the mentioned.

 

Kei put the flowers on the ground unceremoniously, and rid his big brother of the baby toys.

 

"Thanks. Let's put this big girl down now." Akiteru went to the living room, Kei following him.

 

Kei wasn't happy with how the course of the evening changed. It was supposed to be Nii-chan and him playing with Dinosaur King.

 

As if he read his thoughts, after putting down Mako-chan on the sofa, Nii-chan sighed.

 

"Sorry Kei, but I couldn't say no. She couldn't leave her anywhere else and she couldn't possibly take a little girl with her to a business meeting." He rubbed his eyes with his hands and turned towards Makoto.

 

"Hi, Mako-chan, I'm... Aki-chan... and this is Kei-chan."

 

"Don't call me that." huffed Kei, and dumped the baby toys on the sofa and went to put the flowers in a vase.

 

"Akichan. Kecchan." the little girl babbled.

 

Akiteru sat on the sofa next to her. She had dark brown, short hair and big, blue eyes.

 

"Hey." Akiteru smiled at her.

 

The baby girl watched him for a minute, then got on her hands and knees, and she seemed to aim the end of the couch.

 

"Oh, wait little lady, where are you going?" Akiteru reached her before she could slide off the couch.

 

Kei entered the room and went straight to the computer to shut off the PC. Nii-chan was busy trying to hold Mako-chan from sliding off. Eventually, he just pulled the little girl into his lap and started rocking her, which resulted in cute little giggles bubbling from her.

 

"Kei, I'm really sorry."

 

Kei sighed. Well, if that's how it is, they better make the best of the situation.

 

"Don't worry about it, Nii-chan. Let's play with Mako-chan a bit."

 

"Do you think we should call Mom and Dad to tell them?"

Kei sat between Nii-chan and the baby toys, pondering.

 

"Mother would only get anxious, don't you think? Let them watch the movie peacefully."

 

Speaking of peaceful, it seemed like Makoto was losing her previous calm. She shifted a lot on Nii-chan's lap, and let out unhappy sounds.

 

"What's wrong, Mako-chan?" Akiteru asked-her.

 

"Mama."

 

'Oh dear' thought Akiteru.

 

"Your mama will be back soon. Let's play until then."

 

In the meantime, Kei spread the baby toys on the couch. Nomura-san brought an animal names-teaching book two plush figurines and a toy car with her.

 

"Let's try this first." Kei opened the book and put it under Mako-chan's nose.

 

The girl spared it a glance then started wiggling in Nii-chan's lap again.

 

"Look, Mako-chan, there's the cat! So cute, right?"

However, it seemed the girl wasn't interested in the book at all.

 

"I think she's too excited to play with plushes or books now." Nii-chan sighed.

 

"What about the car? She could push it around on the floor, right?" Kei suggested.

 

"Hm. Okay, let's try it." Akiteru gingerly put Makoto on the floor, in an area which was big enough for her to crawl around. She just sat there for a while, looking around and taking in the new point of view.

 

The brothers joined her on the floor, and Kei brought the little car with him.

 

"Look, Mako-chan!"

 

She crawled to him, to take the car from his hand, and started playing with it almost immediately.

 

Akiteru and Kei let out a sigh of relief, then smiled at each other simultaneously.

 

"How old do you think she is, Nii-chan?"

 

"Hmm, don't really know. Maybe around one? How old are you, Mako-chan?" Akiteru asked her. Mako-chan looked up with big blue eyes.

 

"Makochan. Akichan."

 

Nii-chan laughed. "Hehe, yes. How old are you Mako-chan? Have you had a birthday yet? Have you had a birthday cake? A cake?"

 

"Cake. Akichan." She answered, then as she judged it a good enough answer, and she got back to playing with the toy car.

 

"Aww she's so cute!" exclaimed Nii-chan.

 

The boys were quite surprised when the little girl stood up on her little legs and started pushing the toy car all around the living room.

 

"Hey, hey, wait a minute, young lady!"

 

Mako-chan, when she realized she was being chased, let the toy go, and started running around in full speed with little excited shrieks.

 

"Kei, help me catch her! I don't want her to get hurt."

 

Before anything bad could have happened, they surrounded her and Akiteru brought her back to the sofa.

 

"No! Akichan!" Makoto cried.

 

"It's okay, Mako-chan, I just don't want you to get hurt." Nii-chan tried to reassure the little girl, but it seems that it didn't help Makoto's mood.

 

"Mama! Mama!"

 

Kei retrieved the toy car and tried to give it to her, but she pushed it away.

 

"No Kecchan! Mama!"

 

Akiteru burst out in laughter involuntarily. "Pffft... sorry but this Kecchan is too funny."

 

Kei raised one of his eyebrows at him.

 

"Well, yours not better, Akichan!"

 

Nii-chan only laughed harder, shaking slightly with Makoto in his lap.

 

Kei laughed a little too, and their mirth somehow rubbed off on Makoto too, as she started giggling as well.

 

"Kecchan, Akichan!"

 

"You are a little cutie!" Akiteru told her. "You are a little angel!"

 

Mako-chan smiled at him, but soon she started moving in his arms again.

 

"Hm. Maybe she needs a little change of air. Let's bring her up to our rooms." Akiteru took a careful hold of the little girl, and went upstairs, followed by Kei.

 

Mako-chan wasn't really interested in Kei's room, as he refused to let her near his books and mangas, and the dinosaur figures didn't capture his attention, even though Nii-chan and Kei tried to make their best dinosaur voices to tell an interesting story between the Tyrannosaurus Rex and the Stegosaurus.

 

Akiteru's room was even less interesting to her, but as she walked around she seemed to find something she was interested in.

 

The volleyball.

Of course.

 

Akiteru grinned and waved for Kei to sit down and he did the same, holding Makoto's little hand as he pulled her down next to them carefully.

 

Akiteru and Kei started to roll the ball back and forth between them and Mako-chan, and after a short time, she caught up on the game and rolled the ball herself. Sometimes she let out delighted giggles, and when Nii-chan and Kei purposefully sped the pace up, she chuckled even more.

 

Akiteru got thirsty, so he went downstairs to get water and some cookies for them.

 

As Mako-chan was busy nibbling at her cookie, Akiteru turned to Kei.

 

"Not that hard, looking after a one-year-old kid, right?"

"Yeah."

"Well, I have some experience as I was 7 when you were one."

"Yeah, you have a ton of experience Nii-chan." smirked Kei.

"Hey, I really do!" Akiteru popped a cookie into his mouth. "Mom ’n Dad lef me alom wif you when you were that young."

 

When they were sure that Makoto ate and drink enough, they deemed the time optimal for a little reading. They went downstairs, Akiteru holding the little girl extra carefully in his arms.

 

Surprisingly, when Kei brought the book to her, she was really interested in it, but after about twenty minutes, she started saying her mother's name again, and refused to read anymore.

 

Thankfully they had their old children movies so they let Makoto choose one she knew and liked. It was one of the boys' favorites, too, so they didn't even notice at first that Mako-chan had fallen asleep in Nii-chan's arms. Kei took the remote control and turned down the volume of the television. Nii-chan tried to stay almost immobile to don't wake her up, but of course, his nose had to start itching just then.

 

"Um, Kei?"

"Yeah."

"Need a bit of help here." Nii-chan said, pulling up his nose making wrinkles on the bridge of his nose.

 

"Kei laughed and scratched his big brother's nose like it was an everyday occurrence. After the life-saving maneuver, Akiteru glanced down on the little girl who was curling her little hands into his sweater, and dozing peacefully.

 

"Look how cute she is."

 

"Yeah, pretty cute." agreed Kei, who couldn’t help but find them really adorable right now. The movie went on for a while, and they were checking the time on the video player frequently, awaiting Nomura-san.

 

"It's 20:30," Kei said. "I guess Nomura-san will come back soon."

 

"Yeah, I think so too. Maybe we will have time for a round of Dinosaur King after all."

 

Suddenly, the doorbell rang and it has successfully woken up Makoto, even if Kei made a silent dash to open the door, and prevent another ringing.

 

What came next is a lot of – for some reason whispered – thank yous and apologies, several bows among the gathering of toys and a little girl.

 

"Akiteru-chan, Kei-chan, I don't even know how to thank you, you saved me in the last moment, I'm so grateful!"

It really seemed like for a moment that Nomura-san will start crying from being so grateful.

 

Akiteru and Kei told her that it was nothing, and after a couple more heartfelt thank yous and promises of thank you gift's, the Nomura family disappeared in a rush just like how they appeared.

 

"Keiii!" exclaimed Akiteru excitedly. "How about a round of Dinosaur King, then?"

He looked at Kei, expecting an equally excited expression, but instead, he just saw how close to falling asleep was Kei himself.

 

"I don't want to now, Nii-chan."

"Someone's a little tired, huh?" Akiteru let out a yawn himself. " I guess looking after a one-year-old is very tiring even if it’s not that hard. Go on up, take a bath and go to bed, I'll wash the dishes."

 

"Thank you Nii-chan."

 

Soon, Kei was off to bed and Akiteru himself only stayed up to wait for his parents, then said goodbye after telling them his and Kei's first-hand babysitting experience.

 

As he was lying on his bed, fully prepared to fall asleep, his last thoughts were that he'll definitely make time the next day for lots and lots of rounds of Dinosaur King with his little brother.

 

 

 

 

The end

 

 

by Annie Kabrasi

 

 

22 september 2015

 

 

 

*Dinosaur King is a Japanese game I found on the internet. I don't know much about it, only that it is quite like the game Pokemon. I'm sorry I'm not really experienced in these type of video games, it just seemed like something Akiteru and Kei would play together. ^^


	3. Domestic

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hellooo! :) I bet this is the silliest from me for tsukibros week :D I couldn't resist though, it was so funny in my head XD
> 
> Summary: Akiteru and Kei move in together, as Tsukki gets in college in Sendai, too. While unloading the boxes, something unexpected happens.
> 
> Akiteru is 24, Kei is 18.

 

 

 

**Tsukibros Week Day 3**

 

 

**Domestic**

 

 

 

 

Kei was in a box up until his shoulders, trying to gather up the papers stuck to the bottom of the cardboard box. He was really grateful that Nii-chan let him move in with him, but the moving experience wasn't the best memory of his life that was sure. Even though both himself and Nii-chan were pretty strong, bringing up all Kei's stuff were tiring. Kei didn't think he had much stuff to move when he finished high school, but when he was sorting through his books, clothes and different objects at home, somehow all seemed important enough to bring with him. It took him several re-sorting, and some reasoning from his mother and father to have a  sensible amount of baggage.

Even Nii-chan was huffing when they managed to bring all Kei's stuff to the 3rd level of the apartment building Akiteru lived in. And from now on, Kei lived here too. He had been here many times when he came to visit Akiteru and helped a little with  housework. The place was rather big and looked more or less modern, with its color scheme using a lot of grey, black, green and brown. It also smelled nice, as Nii-chan paid attention to let fresh air in when necessary, and brought a couple of houseplants, which he managed to keep healthy and pretty  for years.

All his classmates were envious of Kei knowing that he will not have to spend a lot of time finding the perfect apartment to rent. It had to be safe and cozy, and close to the university, after all.  Although Akiteru's place wasn't cheap, they knew the landlord was nice and Nii-chan could even cover the rent alone. Kei planned to take a little side-job to help paying for the expenses.

Kei finally managed to take all the remaining papers out of  the box, and put them on the coffee table, then folded the cardboard box, and put it on the already folded pile of boxes.

Akiteru was busy putting the boxes of Kei's clothes away to Kei's room.

Kei was really bored. Usually, when he had to do tasks like this, he listened to music, but the earphones were an inconvenience if you had to move around objects a  lot. Fortunately,  in the living room, there was an oldschool CD player, so when Nii-chan came back for another box, Kei asked him if he could put on some music.

"Sure.” replied Akiteru. "Although I only have old CD's there."

Kei chose one randomly and placed it in the player.

Familiar songs started playing which reminded him of the times he was really little. They were sure old songs, and did not fit Kei's current style at all, but it was nostalgic to listen to them and unloading the boxes was a whole lot more tolerable this way.

Nii-chan was pushing the last box of clothes into Kei's room, when an ominous song started playing. Well, at least it was ominous to Kei, because  the second it started playing, he remembered things of his past he really didn't want to remember.

The male singer started "singing' almost as soon as the first tunes chimed in the room's air.

**"Comme te po' cap che te v bene**

**Si te le parle 'mmiezzo americano?"**

Nii-chan's face appeared in the doorway just as if he were a cheetah who noticed a nice, juicy and slow gazelle.

His eyes found Kei's, the latter's full with terror, the former's with a not entirely innocent delight. Kei regretted not pulling a pokerface to pretend he doesn’t remember **the thing.**

**"Quando se fa l'amore sott'a luna**

**Comme te vene 'capa e di "I love you!?"**

"Don"t you dare" Kei warned, but Nii-chan already moved pretty close to him, and it was practically impossible to run from him with all the boxes scattered around.

"A promise is a promise, Kei" Akiteru grinned and took hold of Kei's hand, pulling him to the largest patch of empty place in the living room, ignoring his little brother's protests.

Kei only felt Nii-chan let go of his hand and stand in his "starting pose" before the song suddenly jumped to the base rhytm.

**"Pa, pa l'americano!"**

"Come on, Kei!" were the last words Akiteru told him, before he started dancing like crazy. Literally. Like crazy.

Okay, okay, Kei knew that it was their "choreography", back when the song came out and Kei was ten. Ten! Not freaking eighteen! And Nii-chan should really behave like an adult, he was twenty-four  for crying out loud! But still, here he was, Nii-chan, dancing a "choreography" they came up with eight years ago, to this stupid song.

The "dance moves" Nii-chan was so generously presenting to Kei now, were mostly a lot of head-banging and flailing of limbs, but Kei could have sweared that Nii-chan weaved some flamenco moves in it. Wait, what? How do Nii-chan even know how to dance flamenco? Oh well, on second thought, he really didn't.

**"Pa, pa l'americano!"**

"Come on, Kei!" Akiteru repeated when he stopped the headbanging for a minute to address Kei. "You promised!"

"Why do you even remember that?" grumbled Kei.

Their promise was a silly little thing Kei himself came up with, when their self-made dance were fully constructed. Kei made Akiteru promise that every time they hear the song together, they will dance to it, no matter the circumstances.

Can’t promises have an expiration date?

Kei watched his older brother clearly having the time of his life, somehow not even a bit embarrassed in front of him, laughing and wheezing as he danced giving his best and with the enthusiasm of a boy group member.

Kei was just standing still staring at his brother with a stunned expression, until Nii-chan's right hip made contact with his left thigh.

"You don't want to start the song from the beginning and do a full dance, do you, Kei?" Nii-chan told him mock-menacingly.

**"Pa, pa l'americano!"**

That made Kei move finally, and it was surprising, but he knew perfectly well what idiotic move came next in their little dance. He still hesitated, and hoped that there were no hidden cameras from their landlord, as this could be the PERFECT blackmail material on him, and he knew some guys who would pay a fortune for even a glimpse of a video footage. But suddenly Akiteru grabbed his hands and pulled him closer to himself so thankfully he only had to look at Nii-chan's face and he couldn't see much else of Kei either.

**"Comme te po' cap che te v bene**

**Si te le parle 'mmiezzo americano?**

**Quando se fa l'amore sott'a luna**

**Comme te vene 'capa e di "I love you!?"**

Akiteru spun Kei around once (with a rather large difficulty), then let go of his hands, and stood in their pose before the iconic phrase travelled through the living room once again.

**"Pa, pa l'americano!"**

 

Kei felt his whole face becoming red, but he had to admit that dancing like two crazy people wasn't bad at all, even if they were tired. At least they had some fun. After a couple of steps he still remembered from years ago, he felt a grin take the place from the disapproving scowl on his face and he only listened to the silly music and watched his silly brother.

**"Pa, pa l'americano!"**

"Sometimes I wonder which one of us is the older, Nii-chan." Kei said when Akiteru pulled him closer to spin him around again.

Nii-chan ignored his comment, and seemed very focused all of a sudden.

"This is waaay harder now that you are this tall! Come on now, pay attention at the end!”

**"Whisky, soda, y rock ‘n roll!**

**Whisky, soda, y rock ‘n roll!**

**Whisky, soda, y rock ‘n roll!"**

 

Well, this was the only part of the lyrics Kei actually understood, other than the "I love you"'s. He remembered a couple of years ago, it didn't matter whether it was in Italian or English, because he didn't really understand any of it, just that it was a song fun to dance to. It really was, even now, although Kei would have rather swallowed his tongue before admitting it.

Akiteru was giggling with his hands on his knees and panting, glancing up at Kei with tears in his eyes, smiling.

"That was so much fun, Kei!"

"If you say so, Nii-chan." Kei made sure Nii-chan heard the emphasized doubt in his voice.

As another song started playing, the day resumed normally, and Kei almost (almost!) forgot about the little incident, and only once did it resurfaced in his mind, when he was about to sleep. He saw Akiteru dancing before his eyes and he couldn't help but smile into his pillow.

He didn't really smile the next day morning when he needed to get out of bed, although the sun shining on him, and the smell of coffee helped a bit.

He entered the kitchen, and he only had a second to get a glimpse of his brother in his pyjamas, a huge mischievous grin on his face and the CD player on the kitchen table. Before Kei could do more than blink,  Akiteru pressed 'Play'.

**"Comme te po' cap che te v bene**

**Si te le parle 'mmiezzo americano?**

**Quando se fa l'amore sott'a luna**

**Comme te vene 'capa e di "I love you!?"**

“You have got to be kidding me.” said Kei, while Nii-chan held out his hand for Kei to invite him to dance.

“A promise is a promise!”

 

This happened once again in the evening, and Kei could only get the tune out of his head by listening to his own music, but he spent an hour turning in his bed when he tried to sleep. “Pa, pa l’americano, yeah, right!”

When the next morning, Akiteru were, again, waiting for him in the kitchen to press play on the CD player, Kei glared at him with bloodshot eyes.

“You do realize I’m gonna break that CD in half, right?”

But he never did.

 

 

 

The end

 

 

 

*The song is ‘We no speak americano’ by Yolanda be cool ;)

Fic inspired by real life siblings dancing to it like crazy  (no, not me and my brother, but my friend and her sister :D)

 

 

 

**By Annie Kabrasi**

  


**23 september 2015**

 


End file.
